


Bits and Pieces (Arrow-verse)

by miera



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Ficlet Collection, Multi, Unplanned Pregnancy, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:18:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6699040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Collection of short fics related to the larger Arrow-verse (including Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow). Some are completed stories, some are pieces from larger fics I won't ever finish. Rating and content may vary wildly so please read the notes on each chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> The zombie apocalypse hits Starling City. Set between S2 and S3

The true scope of what was happening - that this was a literal zombie apocalypse and there was nothing they could do to stop it - left all four of them speechless for a couple of minutes, staring at Felicity's monitors helplessly.

It was Digg who started moving. Digg, who had a baby on the way and the world was actually ending, who shook off the paralysis. "Oliver, we need to get out of here. Find a defensible position somewhere and wait this out."

"So you want to abandon the city?" Roy challenged Digg. "We're supposed to just run away?"

"Starling City is my home too, Roy, but I know a lost cause when I see one. There's no way we can protect a city of millions of people from a virus."

"Maybe not, but shouldn't we try? I mean, what has this all been about if we're going to give up now?"

Oliver shifted his weight. Digg was right; they couldn't fight a damned plague. But Oliver couldn't believe all the sacrifices he'd made to try and save Starling City were for nothing. But Digg's motivations were not purely tactical here.

"John, you should go," he said. "Get Lyla and stock up and head out of town. Find some place to hole up where you can keep them safe." 

Digg glared. "And just leave the three of you here to catch this thing and die?"

He had a point. Oliver didn't want to just give up, even though the rational part of his mind was telling him to grab his friends and get the hell away from everything before any of them got sick.

"We could protect the Glades," Felicity said from her chair, bringing the argument to a halt.

The three men grouped around her. She had pulled up a map of Starling City. "Other than the bridges, the only connection between the Glades and Bludhaven and the main land mass is the peninsula." She tapped at the keyboard. "It was a swamp until the Army Corps of Engineers built a dyke and levee system in the 60s to drain out the water."

"If we took out the bridges and let the area flood back in, the Glades would be surrounded by water," Oliver finished her thought.

"So, what, a moat is gonna stop zombies?" Roy put in testily.

Felicity shot him a look. "None of the footage I've seen indicates the... sick people would be capable of swimming. They can barely walk." 

"If we set guards at the bridges and lookouts at strategic points around the perimeter, use floodlights at night, we could make sure nobody went in or out," Digg observed, tracing what would be the edge of the protected area on the computer screen. "We could insure nobody sick crossed into the area and keep any of the affected out without having to create an entire army."

It was a hell of a choice to make, but the alternative was to try and save the entire city, which they couldn't do, or abandon the entire city and save themselves, which they wouldn't do. 

They could save the Glades. Maybe. After everything that had happened in the last couple of years, there was an irony to the idea of the Glades surviving the actual end of the world.

"How can we be sure nobody sick will already be in the Glades?" Oliver asked.

Felicity pointed to another monitor. "The CDC is predicting cases will start appearing here within the next 48 hours. If we were going to do this, it would need to happen by then."

Oliver noted a strange note in her voice. Or rather the lack of one. It was flat and emotionless, very not Felicity, even allowing for what was happening around them. She glanced down at her phone and he realized she'd been checking it every few minutes. "Felicity?"

She looked back at him and his stomach churned at the fear on her face. "It's... it's my Mom. I've been trying to reach her since last night and she's not answering her phone." 

Shit. He hadn't thought of the people outside of Starling City. 

Digg was already going for his phone. "I can call Carly, get them to head here today."

Oliver nodded. "We'll need to contact Laurel, tell her to get her mother to come back to Starling."

"You think Captain Lance is going to be okay with this plan?" Roy asked.

"No, but it's our only option." Felicity was staring hopelessly at her phone. Oliver stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Your mom is still in Vegas, right?"

She nodded. "There's already trouble there. It might be too late. I know there's nothing we can do. We can't risk tens of thousands of people to wait and see if I can reach her and try to get her on a flight here especially when the airlines have already canceled most of the commercial flights-"

His hand tightened. "Felicity. We're not leaving your Mom out there alone." 

Her head whipped around. "Oliver..."

"Go home and pack a bag. I'll pick you up in an hour." He turned to the other two. "Felicity and I are going to Vegas and bringing her mother here. Digg, you and Lyla should be able to get your hands on enough explosives to do the job. Roy, get the word out across the Glades. I'll talk to Laurel and explain the plan." Laurel hopefully would be more amenable to this than her father, especially if it gave her the chance to save both of her parents. He wondered briefly what Sara was doing right now, whether she was aware of what was happening. 

"Oliver we can't possibly drive to Vegas and back in time," Felicity was putting on her coat but still arguing with him.

He managed to grin at her. "Who said anything about driving?" 

She paused and just looked at him. He knew that expression - a million thoughts were flying through her head and she was struggling to articulate any of them clearly. He saw her guilt for being selfish by prioritizing her mother, for him abandoning Starling to help her, fear of the journey and what they might find in the end. Oliver met her eyes, hoping she could see that he was determined to do this. He had no idea where Thea really was. If he did, that would be where he was going right now, but he didn't. In the absence of that, he wasn't going to condemn Felicity to wondering if somehow she could have saved her mother. 

The world was ending, but they were going to save what they could of it. Starting with the last of their family.

She finally blinked and headed for the stairs. Oliver looked at Digg. "Even if we're not back in 48 hours, blow the bridges and the levy and seal off the Glades."


	2. Pregnant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometime in the future, post S4, Felicity has some news for Oliver.

A hand touched her shoulder and Felicity’s eyes flew open. Oliver, Digg and Thea were standing around staring at her. Digg and Thea were smirking.

She was asleep in her chair. She had fallen asleep while they were on a mission. She was never living this down. “In my defense,” she said quickly, “I didn’t doze off until after I heard you guys say you were on your way back.”

Oliver was hovering over her and clearly not amused. He looked at the rest of the team. “Could you guys give us a minute, please?”

The others stripped out of their gear hurriedly and disappeared and Felicity knew this was the moment. Oliver turned back to her. “What is going on? And don’t tell me its nothing. You’re not eating, you’re lying awake at night. Something is bothering you.” 

She knew he had noticed her not sleeping last night. Steeling herself, she got up, locking her fingers together to stop her hands from shaking. “Oliver, I have to tell you something.” He just waited and her brain skipped through a dozen different openings, none of which sounded good. So she just blurted it out. “I’m pregnant.”

If her nerves hadn’t been so twisted up, she would have found this moment amusing. Oliver very, very rarely was so shocked that he just stood frozen, with his mouth hanging open like this. But every second of silence just drove the fear deeper in her gut.

Children had been a sore subject between them since finding out about Oliver's son. Even though they had reconciled and things were going well, she hadn't been ready for this. Neither of them were and she had no idea what Oliver's reaction would be. 

He licked his lips. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yes. I saw the doctor this morning.” 

His forehead furrowed, unknowingly mirroring her own reaction. “But how?”

“I don’t know. I checked and I’m not due for my next shot for another two months.” She wrung her hands. “I swear I didn’t do this on purpose, Oliver.”

“Hey, I know that.” He took a step closer, still looking worried. “The doctor did say something about stress interfering with the shots.”

She had forgotten that. When she had explained the risks to Oliver and mentioned the part about stress, he had dryly observed that it was a good thing their lives were so relaxed. 

There was another painful silence. Felicity wasn’t sure what to brace herself for. 

Then Oliver closed the gap between them, his arms wrapping around her tightly and his face pressing against her hair. “You’re really pregnant?” he whispered.

“Yeah.”

His hands gripped her back tightly. “We’re having a baby?”

Tears filled her eyes. “Yes?”

He pulled back, his gloved hand touching her face. He looked scared. “Felicity, do you not want this?”

“No. I mean, yes, of course, I want…” she choked on the words. “Yes I want this but I wasn’t sure what you were going to say. I know it’s dangerous and it’s going to make everything way complicated...” It had taken years for them to work things out between them just enough to be together, and that was just to start a relationship. Now they had gotten back together but he was the mayor and she was the CEO of a major company and they fought crime together at night and she couldn't help but think one more thing to juggle was going to bring the whole Jenga puzzle that was their lives down in pieces. 

But Oliver shrugged. “Things are already complicated. We’ll make it work.” 

It was her turn to stare at him in bewilderment. Oliver - _her Oliver_ \- was completely rolling with this turn of events instead of storming off to brood or giving her a long list of reasons why it was a terrible idea. The man who had talked himself out of dating her for months was completely unruffled at the idea of them having a child to take care of on top of everything else. “When did you turn into an optimist?”

He smiled and that was it, she was done. There were a few things in the world Felicity had no ability to hold up against and Oliver smiling at her was at the top of the list. “I’m not. I’m probably going to freak out repeatedly.” Understatement, she thought. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to let you out of my sight for the next nine months.” He shook his head and then tugged one of his gloves off so he could place his hand against her abdomen, despite the fact that she was nowhere in the vicinity of showing yet (and the idea of her pregnancy showing sent a whole new spiral of feelings through her). “But this isn’t just about us anymore.”

Since the doctor's confirmation that morning, her thoughts had been full of fears. Someone finding out about the pregnancy, someone finding out about the Green Arrow and Overwatch, the board firing her, Oliver's term in office being brought down by a scandal, trying to manage an infant while being a CEO and a vigilante and her mother's reaction to this news were only the highlights. Now, at Oliver's words, a whole new train of images blew through her mind. Oliver cradling her swollen stomach and talking to their baby, watching him hold a tiny bundle of blankets in his ridiculous arms, making airplane noises during a feeding, insisting on buying a Rockets hat for kid too tiny to wear it. It was a reminder that the challenges and risks weren't the only things to think about.

This was bigger than her fear. Bigger than both of their fears. 

Felicity surged up onto her toes, throwing her arms around Oliver's neck and kissing him. She could feel his smile against her lips but he caught her and kissed her back. After a few minutes she drew away, dabbing at the tears in her eyes while Oliver just beamed at her in a way she hadn't seen in a while. "So, Mr. Queen, I guess there's only one thing left to do."

"Hmm?"

"I think it's past time I made an honest man out of you," she grinned.


	3. Suits and Ties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a very important day for the Queen family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Future!fic about Oliver and Felicity's kids.

Oliver laid his suit coat across the back of a kitchen chair. Abby was sitting on the couch in her dress, reading a book, while Ben sat on the floor playing with one of his trucks. Felicity had decided that trying to get Ben into a tie was a lost cause, so he was in pants and a white shirt. So far he hadn’t gotten any dirt on himself but the odds were against them that Ben’s shirt would be unstained by the end of the day.

With two of his children peacefully occupied, Oliver climbed the stairs. Felicity was in their room getting ready, but a noise of frustration caught his ear and Oliver turned to the other door first and knocked. “Jake?”

“Yeah?” a distracted voice answered.

Oliver pushed the door open. His oldest son was fidgeting before the mirror in his brand new suit, staring at the ends of the tie around his neck like it was a completely foreign object. Oliver smothered a grin. “Need some help?”

Jacob Jonas Queen sighed. “I know you guys showed me a bunch of times, but it looks totally different trying to do it myself!”

Oliver stepped up behind Jake and walked him through putting on the tie and tightening it correctly. The boy had shot up a couple of inches in the last few months, putting his head nearly at Oliver’s shoulder. Jake craned his neck up, checking the length of the tie and Oliver grabbed his suit coat and held it up. Once Jake was dressed Oliver rested his hands on his son’s shoulders. “Are you ready?”

Jake met his eyes in the mirror and nodded. It was possibly the least confident nod in history. 

“Hey,” Oliver said, moving to stand in front of his son. “It’s okay to be nervous. It’s a big day.” Years of Hebrew school and lessons and several months of preparation had been building up to this moment. Oliver was nervous and all he had to do was drive, sit next to Felicity and somehow keep Ben from getting himself filthy before the pictures were taken. 

Jake bit his lower lip. “I don’t want to disappoint Mom,” he blurted out all in one breath, a reminder to Oliver that despite how much Jake looked like him, he was definitely Felicity's son. “This is a really big deal for her and I just keep thinking of messing up the words in front of all of those people and, I don’t know, bringing shame on the family or something-“

Oliver flashed back to the conversation he and Felicity had had when they found out she was pregnant - really pregnant, unlike the first scare and second false start - when she broached the topic of religion. _“This isn’t just about lighting candles or eating matzo ball soup, Oliver. This is a commitment that our children will be raised a certain way, and it will affect a lot of our lives.”_ Initially Oliver had gone along with it to make Felicity happy, but over time he had come to appreciate the legacy his children had inherited from their mother. The Queen name came with plenty of baggage. He felt in a weird way like raising their kids to respect their Jewish identity was sort of a counterbalance to some of the burden they got from him.

Felicity would have raised her eyebrow at such an idea, of course. 

“Jake.” Oliver leaned down so that he was at eye level with his son. “Your mom is proud that you’re doing this. That’s all she needs. She’s going to see you up there and saying the words and that’s all that’s going to matter, not how perfectly you say them, okay?”

“So as long as I puke before it starts I’m okay?” Despite the sarcasm, Oliver could see some of the tension let go from his son's thin shoulders. 

“Let’s try to avoid puking entirely, but if necessary, yes.” 

Jake stepped forward suddenly and threw his arms around Oliver’s waist. Oliver wrapped his arms around his son once he got over the shock. Jake had long passed the age where hugging his father was normal (his mother was a different story, but that was a mother-son thing), and Ben had as well, so he held on tightly for this moment he was allowed, his chin resting on the top of his son’s head. 

It was over too fast, but Oliver let go as soon as Jake backed off. He smoothed his hand down over his tie in an unconscious imitation of Oliver that made him grin. Jake squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

Oliver nodded. “All right. Just remember, a couple hours and then pizza.” 

“Right.”

“Let’s go let your Mom inspect the suit.”


	4. Vertigo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angsty piece set early in S3, when Oliver was being a dumbass.

Oliver headed back into the foundry feeling better than he had in a couple of weeks. A man with ties to human trafficking operations had appeared in Starling a couple days ago. Now he was tucked away in police custody with enough evidence to keep him there for a long time. It had been a while since they had achieved some kind of tangible goal like this and it made him feel more in control.

Now if they could just get a lead on Sara's killer. 

He started down the steps, intending to ask Felicity if she had come up with anything new, but she wasn't sitting at her computer. 

There were plenty of possible reasons for her not to be sitting there, but Oliver realized belatedly that she hadn't spoken in a while, and hadn't acknowledged when he said they were coming back.

A prickle of alarm went up his spine.

He hurried down the last few steps and went around the corner of the cabinet and froze.

Felicity was lying on the floor, her legs twisted at unnatural angles. She wasn't moving and there was blood on her forehead. 

For one second, Oliver could not move. He felt like he wasn't breathing, like his heart had stopped. This couldn't be happening. She was supposed to be safe down here. He was supposed to know if she was in danger, not just find her like this.

Digg and Roy had been behind him, but Digg shouted Felicity's name and shot forward, breaking Oliver's momentary paralysis. The two of them crashed to the floor on either side of her.

"She's got a pulse, it's fast but steady. Felicity?" Digg had immediately gone into medic mode. Oliver stayed out of the way, but he yanked his glove off and grasped Felicity's hand, his fingers needing to find the soft thud of her pulse for himself. 

"She's not responding." Digg crouched lower, removing Felicity's glasses carefully and checking her eyes. "Pupils are reactive but she's not waking up."

"Where did the blood come from?" Roy asked.

Oliver looked around. The exterior door had been locked when they got back. Aside from her chair, which was in the middle of the floor, nothing was disturbed. No sign anyone had gotten in. 

Mentally he worked out the trajectory of how she could have landed on the floor unconscious and he turned to his left. "The table." The sharp metal corner of the table held a few drops of blood and a single long blonde hair. 

"Oliver, she needs to go to the hospital," Digg said.

His first instinct was to pick her up in his arms and carry her there himself, but Digg glanced at Oliver's clothing. Right. He was still in his leathers. 

"We can't exactly call an ambulance to your secret lair," Roy observed. 

Oliver exchanged a brief look with Digg. His friend's expression made it clear that Digg knew Oliver was fighting his instincts. He didn't want to let Felicity out of his sight right now, but she needed help, fast. 

"Go," was all he said. 

Digg lifted Felicity up into his huge arms, cradling her like a child. Oliver forced himself to let go of her hand. "We'll be right behind you."

Digg raced up the stairs to his car. Oliver stripped out of his Hood get-up as fast as possible and got dressed, hurrying to his motorcycle, Roy only a few steps behind him.

During the brief ride to Starling General, Oliver's brain wouldn't shut up. How had this happened? Before they left for tonight's mission, Felicity had seemed all right. But she had been pretty quiet. He should have noticed, but things between them had been strained since their disaster of a date and the conversation the night of little Sara's birth. So he had chalked her all-business attitude up to the stress of their complicated situation and her working for the man who had taken Oliver's company. He didn't know much about what was going on with Palmer, but she was working long hours at her new job, plus handling her work in the foundry. 

He still should have noticed. He and Felicity had been completely in tune with each other just a few weeks ago. How did he not notice something was wrong?

Digg was in the waiting room of the ER when they arrived. The nurses had taken Felicity back to be examined, but he didn't know anything else. The three of them settled into the uncomfortable chairs to wait. 

Minutes ticked by into half an hour, then an hour. Oliver went over the situation in the foundry again and again. He would feel better if he knew for certain her injury wasn't because someone had knocked her head into the table on purpose. There had been no other visible bruising, at least. But he wanted to know for sure that nobody had gotten into the lair without them knowing about it. Felicity was supposed to be safe down there.

She was supposed to be safe because they weren't together, too, a voice in his head pointed out sourly. Well, safer. All four of them were in a certain amount of danger just from what they did at night. Felicity had chosen that risk and the team needed her too much - Oliver needed her too much - to ever try to talk her into leaving. 

If it hadn't been an intruder, something had still happened in the basement. She could have fainted? Maybe she passed out and hit her head. Maybe she was sick and he just hadn't noticed. Or maybe she'd just been tired. Or tripped. Her feet hadn't been far from her chair, so maybe she just got tangled up and fell. She could nearly run in high heels, though, so that seemed unlikely. But if she was sick that could throw off her balance. 

A terrifying thought struck him. What if it wasn't just a cold or something? What if she was really sick? What if it was something serious, a brain tumor or a stroke or some disease and this was just the first stage? 

Fuck. He got up and started to pace, trying to reason with himself. Digg and Roy had dissected what they knew as well but there was a limit on what they could say in public. Roy finally disappeared to get coffee. 

Digg was watching Oliver stalk back and forth. "Oliver, calm down. She's going to be all right."

"We don't know that for sure," Oliver growled. He rubbed his face with his hands. "It's been two hours. They should have told us something by now." The longer this took, the more Oliver was sure something serious was wrong. 

"Not necessarily," Digg observed. "They were talking about running blood tests. If they did a head CT, that would take time. Don't borrow trouble, man." 

Oliver wanted to snap at Digg, but the relentless drumming of Digg's fingers on the arm of his chair and the fact that he was sitting bolt upright instead of slouching in his seat belied his calm words. Digg was worried about her too.

Oliver really, really wanted to be able to punch something right now.

Roy returned with a cup of terrible coffee from the vending machine and another half an hour went by before a nurse finally called "Mr. Diggle?"

Digg popped up from his seat, Oliver and Roy right behind him. "Is she okay?" Roy asked before anyone could say anything.

The nurse frowned at Roy. "Mr. Diggle? You can come back with me."

Roy started to get angry. Oliver understood the feeling but he put a restraining hand on the younger man's arm. "Roy, they can't tell us anything." Digg was Felicity's emergency contact. The hospital by law couldn't share information with anyone but him.

Digg nodded. "I'll be back in a minute," he told them and followed the nurse through the double doors into the patient area. 

By unspoken agreement, Oliver and Roy stayed near the doors. Oliver forced himself not to fidget. Roy was doing enough of it for both of them. The fear swirling in his gut had intensified and every minute Digg was gone seemed to take hours.

Finally he reappeared. "She's fine. She's awake. The doctor said she had an episode of vertigo. The regular kind," he amended quickly, before Oliver could have a heart attack himself. Digg gestured to his own head and circled his hand. "She got dizzy and fell, that's how she hit her head. She's got a concussion and a sprained ankle but she'll be fine." 

Oliver nodded. "I need to see her." 

He and Digg shared another look before the man turned and lead them back through the maze of curtained areas to where Felicity was.

*~*~*~*~*

Felicity hated feeling stupid. It was one of her least favorite things in the world.

And right now? She felt monumentally stupid.

The doctor said she had a bad ear infection, and it had triggered an episode of vertigo. Felicity had actually denied that she was a drug user before it sank in that he meant the medical kind of vertigo. 

She didn't really remember falling. She'd had the wobbles on and off all day, but she had forced the feeling aside because she was trying to restore data from a hard drive for Ray (without mentioning to him that the hard drive was fried because of her brilliant idea to blow the applied sciences building up). She skipped dinner since her stomach was upset. When Oliver and the others had completed the mission she'd been thinking maybe some hot tea would help when she got home. She got up to do something and the next thing she knew, she was lying in a hospital bed, completely confused. 

She'd only woken up in a hospital once in her life before and that was not an experience she ever wanted to repeat. 

Meanwhile, she had managed somehow to fall and give herself a concussion while also spraining her ankle tripping over her own feet. 

The guys were never going to let her live this down. Oliver had gotten beaten half to death and kept walking. She couldn't handle a measly ear infection without injuring herself. 

Pathetic.

Also her head hurt, her ankle was aching and she still was getting dizzy if she moved her eyes around too much. She was cold and sore and wanted to be in her warm bed alone already.

The curtain rattled and she peeked to see it was Digg coming back. And he had Oliver and Roy in tow.

Great. Because she wanted witnesses to this moment in her life. 

Oliver came to the side of the bed that didn't have the IV - she was definitely not paying attention to the giant needle in her arm because she wasn't a fan of needles even with all her ear piercings. He didn't look amused at her plight. He looked completely freaked out and like he was barely holding it together. 

She actually frowned up at him. "What's wrong?"

His eyes widened. "Felicity, you're in the hospital."

"Maybe she hit her head harder than they thought," Roy put in. Her eyes darted toward him but that made the room spin. She slammed her eyes shut and took a deep breath through her nose. 

"Felicity?" Oliver sounded panicked.

"I'm fine. Just dizzy."

Oliver wrapped his hand around hers, squeezing tightly. "Can they give you something for that?"

She blew out another breath, not daring to nod. "Yeah, the nurse should be coming soon." 

On cue, the curtain moved again. "Oh," the nurse stopped, startled. "We really can only allow one visitor at a time back here, gentlemen." 

"We'll give you two a minute," Digg said, taking Roy and leaving. Felicity frowned. She really had no idea what was going on.

"You fell and hit your head," Oliver told her. She must have said that last bit out loud. "We found you- you were unconscious when we found you. Digg brought you to the hospital." 

The nurse injected something into her IV and left. "I know that," Felicity told him, trying not to snap. "I'm fine. You, however, look like you're two seconds from punching a wall. Did something happen? After you..." she groped for a way to ask that wouldn't give anything about his secret away, "on your way back?"

Oliver now looked as bewildered as she felt. "Felicity, we found you on the floor. You hit your head." 

"But it's just a stupid ear infection. I got a little dizzy. It's not a big deal."

Oliver's jaw clenched. "You had an episode of vertigo, Felicity. You didn't just feel lightheaded, you passed out. You could have gotten seriously hurt." 

"I tripped over my own feet," she retorted, then grimaced as her headache spiked. 

"What is it? Are you dizzy again?"

"I'm fine," she repeated. "My head hurts. And my ankle hurts." She blew out a breath. She didn't want to argue with Oliver. She didn't want him to be here at all, witnessing this. "I'll be fine," she amended. "Digg can give me a ride home, you don't have to stay."

"Oh." 

If it had been anyone else, Felicity would have classified that "oh" as a whimper. She opened her eyes and saw that really, it qualified. Oliver looked... he looked like a kicked puppy. There was no other way to describe it. "What is it?"

He looked down and she realized he was still holding her hand. "We couldn't wake you up," he said lowly. His fingers clenched around hers. "We came back and you were lying on the floor and you wouldn't wake up." 

It slowly dawned on her addled brain that _she_ was the reason he looked so freaked out. That the panic and the hurt on his face was because he was worried about her. 

Her heart sped up but at the same time, anger flared through her. It wasn't fair. He couldn't keep doing this. Oliver had made a choice, to walk away from her, from them, and he didn't get to keep reminding her of this thing between them and then ignoring it. 

_This isn't fair._

"It was just an accident, Oliver," she said, her voice flat. She tugged and shook her fingers until they were free of his hand. "I'm okay." 

Oliver stepped back from her bedside reflexively. She glanced at his face and then immediately ducked her head, because his expression was so full of hurt. She wanted to comfort him, but she shouldn't have to comfort Oliver because this entire mess was his doing. "Right." He had to clear his throat. "I should let you rest."

Felicity bit her tongue to keep from adding anything else. There was no point. And she wasn't going to comfort him or try to make him feel better. Even if she was working herself so hard to pretend her heart wasn't in pieces that she ignored the warning signs of an infection until she fainted dead away, nothing had changed and she wasn't going to let Oliver get away with making her feel even worse about his own bad choices. 

He moved toward the curtain but out of the corner of her eye she saw him pause. His voice came over his shoulder, so low she could barely hear it but full of emotion that sent her heart rate skyrocketing again. "I'm glad you're all right." 

He was gone before she could think of anything to say in response.


End file.
